“Good taste is as tiring as good company.”
Francis Picabia
“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.”
Red Adair
It’s easier to require expenses tastes than to get rid of them.
Naturally, this is a first world problem. It’s usually the people in the world who have next to nothing who are the happiest. There’s likely many reasons why, but my guess is that their happiness is less about owning fewer things and more about not knowing that they are “missing out” on better things.
We naturally seek excitements and challenges. We crave new things and new experiences, while at the same time love habits and routines. And one thing lead to another and what was once exciting becomes our new normal.
Cars, for example. Your first car is usually a used piece of junk you were barely able to afford — but you loved it. It didn’t matter that it would barely start and had a scratchy speaker system. It gave you what you wanted — freedom.
It was only in comparison to your a friend’s nicer car, or a particularly great ad that made you want something shinier and better. Once we have enough of these moments and eventually we can rationalize our way up to becoming unable to own anything but new cars, or even sports cars.
This type of spectrum is happening in every area of our life we are interested in. Get used to certain ways of living and it’s difficult to go back.
Air Condition is another good example. My AC has been broken this past week and it’s been almost impossible to get a good night’s sleep because of the heat. I’ve had the privilege to live in AC the majority of my life. Even most cars have temperature control. But now I’m reliant on an external thing. One week in, and I’m a mess.
Reliance isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it’s usually not a bad thing at all. We like what we like. We lean on what we have to lean on. We find joy in quality. And the deeper we go into a hobby, interest, experience, the more quality we gain.
Start eating healthy with higher quality, unprocessed foods and you’ll gain more energy and health than you know what to do with. But try going back to a fast food life and you’ll feel terrible. You know too much now. You’re no longer a food muggle. Maybe you’ll crave a McFlurry from Mickey D’s every once in a while, but you’ll won’t want to give up the benefits you gain from eating healthy.
But it’s a trade off, because in order to rely on great food, or a new hobby like learning to play the guitar or experiences like travel, you have to use up some of your limited resources (time, money and energy).
What’s the lifetime cost of this habit? What’s the lifetime benefit of this habit?
Does the benefits outweigh the cost?
It’s always good to way the benefits and the long term costs of anything we decide to do or own.
And it’s also good to regularly test what you think you need and must have to live a good and happy life. Sometimes setbacks and circumstances prevent us from having or living life like we were used to. It happens. The goal is to not let setbacks get in the way of our joy in life.
At the end of the day, a place to rest, clean air and water, good food and good company is all we really need.
…And maybe a book or ten. (Or maybe that’s one of my expensive tastes 🙂
STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #709
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